Boca hospital, FAU, Miami sign med school deal

The presidents of Florida Atlantic University, the University of Miami and Boca Raton Community Hospital gathered Friday to deal with ?the hardest part? of their plan to create a four-year physician education program and build a combination teaching and community hospital on FAU's Boca Raton campus.

Before a crowd in the lobby of the Charles E. Schmidt Biomedical Science Building, FAU President Frank Brogan, University of Miami President Donna Shalala and BRCH president and chief executive officer Gary Strack signed the ?affiliation agreement? that will combinethe resources of those three institutions to offer a medical education program locally - one that would feed into a new hospital to be built on FAU's main campus.

"This regional medical campus at FAU is an innovative education program that provides testimony to the excellence that can occur when public and private entities work together," Brogan told the audience. "Our students are getting a quality medical education that will truly benefit our community by providing tomorrow's physicians."

All who spoke cited the considerable work that went into hammering out the agreement. Dr. Michael Friedland, vice president of the Joint Medical Education Program, said it began 10 years ago - and has only reached fruition in the past couple of years.

Currently, a group of UM students attends the first two years of medical school on FAU's Boca Raton campus before moving to back to their Miami campus for the final two years. This program began in 2004 with a class of 16 students and continued last year when another 32 came on board.

The agreement signed Friday calls for expanding the two-year effort to a four-year track that will allow students to stay on the Boca Raton campus while doing their clinical rotations at Boca Raton Community Hospital. BRCH hopes to have a new facility constructed on the local FAU campus by 2011.

Officials said the expanded program meets the state goal for more medical education opportunities without the expense of starting a new medical school from scratch.

"This is a terrific day," Richard Schmidt told the Boca Raton News after the ceremony. The Schmidt family has donated millions to FAU - and the biomedical building is named for his father, Charles.

"This is where the most difficult part happens," said Schmidt, who is also chairman of the board at Boca Hospital. "It is where all the private interests have been worked out."

He said the building named for his father "is the nucleus for the medical school."

Education and medical leaders pointed out the difficult task of putting together the agreement. "To bring together three institutions says much," said Brogan. "They have to put aside their institutional thinking and keep their eye on the prize. This is a marvelous model, not just for Florida, but for the nation."

Shalala, who served as Secretary of Health and Human Services during the Clinton administration, quipped to Boca Raton Mayor Steven Abrams: "You may have lost Scripps, you won us - and we're a lot more fun."

She was referring to the Palm Beach County Commission's decision Tuesday to locate the Scripps Bioresearch Institute in Jupiter rather than Boca.

Of the pact among FAU, UM and BRCH, Shalala said, "It's a perfect example of how private and public institutions can work together." Working as partners, the trio can "build a medical infrastructure," she added.

"One of the cornerstones," she said, "will be the ability to pursue biomedical and clinical research goals. Both are needed."

Boca CEO Strack said that bringing "the three institutions together was hard, but extremely worth while." Citing the many people involved in the effort, he said, "Without a vision, the people perish. But without people, a vision perishes."

The hospital CEO said "we want to build the safest hospital in America, and provide the absolute best care. This is not a do-it-yourself project. It involves teamwork."

"We will create an environment with doctoral and nursing students working with practicing physicians," said Strack. "We only have one time to do it right - and we will do it right."

"We want to make sure we are providing high-quality, cost effective health care," said Dr. John Clarkson, senior vice president for medical affairs at the UM Miller School of Medicine - something he feels is a concern for everyone.

"With smaller class size, we will have innovation in the curriculum," he added.

"This agreement makes it possible for thousands more people to benefit from the research, biomedical breakthroughs and clinical expertise of the faculty at the Miller School of Medicine," Shalala said. "Through the shared resources of these three institutions, our South Florida population will have access to the very best medical care, and will be assured of having physicians treat them well into the 21st century."

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Boca hospital, FAU, Miami sign med school deal

Does anyone think this could lead to a full medical school at FAU? Obviously it sounds like there is need for one. It sounds like FAU has done a good job getting this program going at a much lower cost. That worth a few points.